Slightly shady

The job search, like all hunts, sometimes takes you to weird places.

Take this company I found advertising on one of the bioinformatics job posting boards: AcademicExperts.

According to their website, they "provide academic assistance to high school students, college students and students in Master and Ph.D. programs."

You might think they do tutoring until you see the main qualification for those they're looking to hire: "High quality writing, up to 'A' standard of a relevant academic level."

Pretty much a dead giveaway they're cheating facilitators. That and the too-attractive photographs of the lasses who run the company. Real, I'm sure.

Reminds me of the time I got a speeding ticket in Louisiana. Upon hearing about it, several people in town offered to help me take care of it. A typical conversation went like:

Townie: [Leaning forward] "Do you want help with that ticket?"

Me: [Fidgeting] "Uh, I don't want to do anything illegal."

Townie: [Looking around then leaning forward again] "You're not hearing me right. Do you want help with that ticket?"

Me: [Backing away] "Uh, I really don't want to do anything illegal."

This went back and forth a few times, but what do you do when you're a high school teacher and the townie talking to you is the school janitor?

Well, so much for AcademicExperts. But then again, there's also EquityEdit. Now that might be okay.